5 Tips for Building and Managing Effective Care Teams

Although it can be difficult to form interdisciplinary care teams in the outpatient setting, they are crucial to providing high quality and safe care in many specialties such as cancer care, a panelist said. In the outpatient setting, it is helpful to co-locate clinicians in the same building so they can communicate easily, the panelist said.

2. Building a culture of compassion: Fostering compassion on care teams supports quality, access, and timeliness, a panelist said.

Although care team members may feel overworked or burned out, keeping a focus on the patient and the patient’s needs bolsters compassion, according to one of the panelists.

In addition, a panelist said it is imperative for healthcare leaders such as CMOs to respect that care team members have a life outside of medicine to support a compassionate environment. Healthcare leaders should not make value judgments about the commitment of care team members because everyone has a unique approach to setting a work-life balance.

Healthcare leaders should also lead by example and demonstrate compassion in the workplace. In this sense, compassion is contagious, with the leader demonstrating compassion and the care team members following suit.

3. Integrating APPs into care teams: First and foremost, APPs such as physician assistants and nurse practitioners want to feel that they are valued members of care teams, according to one of the panelists.

Although many APPs want to practice independently, it is important for them to recognize that they do not have the same level of training as physicians, a panelist said. With this in mind, APPs need to know when to ask for help without worrying that other care team members question their ability.

There is variation in how APPs are used in inpatient and outpatient settings, depending on the specialty involved. There is no single model for APP utilization at health systems and hospitals.

4. Leading care teams: Care teams can be led by physicians or by APPs and nurses, the panelists said.

As long as APPs and nurses have strong training and confidence, they can be well suited to leading a care team. Given the workforce shortages that health systems and hospitals face, it is important to not be prescriptive or firm on who can lead care teams, a panelist said, adding the decision on who is best positioned to lead a care team depends on the qualities of the individual.

When care teams are not led by physicians, healthcare leaders such as CMOs should put communication channels in place to let patients know who is in charge of their care, a panelist said.

5. Off-loading tasks on care teams: Technology and support staff can ease non-patient-care burdens on care teams, according to the panelists.

Physical scribes and ambient AI tools can record a conversation between a clinician and a patient, then generate a clinical note in the electronic health record. AI tools can also respond to messages in clinicians’ electronic in-boxes, particularly when a message only requires a “thank you” or “see you soon” response, according to one panelist.

APPs and nurses can work on documentation at a centralized location, a panelist said. Additionally, in any case where staff have care team responsibilities delegated to them, the support staff must feel supported and valued.